I should note that this review for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
for the Sony PSP comes on the heels of my review for the PS3 version.
Now, when I have an opportunity to review the same game for two
different platforms, my first inclination is to do a
comparison/contrast on the two versions of the game.  Well, I’m not
going to do that here.  Instead, I’m going to tell you what the PSP
version is not, and sadly, it is not the PS3 version. I should also
point out that the Tech Talk For Families staff of reviewers has
seriously put multiple versions of this game through the ringer, so I
won’t go too far in depth with the story.  Instead, check out PD’s Nintendo Wii Review, Kevin’s Nintendo DS Review, Dale’s XBox360 Review and Sony PS2 Review, and my Sony PS3 Review.

I
should also point out that because the rating for Web of Shadows for
the PSP is more kid-friendly, 7-year-old Nikolai was able to join me on
this review.

Donning the Spidey Suits

Now
what I can gather from the other reviews, Web of Shadows has a very
similar storyline across the versions.  New York City is being taken
over by symbiotes, and it is up to Spider-Man to save the day.  But
first he must have a brief fight with Venom, thus allowing him to get
tainted with the Symbiote and thus sport the Black Symbiote Spider suit
when called for.  This is achieved by pressing the Select Button on the
PSP.  Spiderman can also do basic punch attacks, kick attacks, jump,
use power ups, web swing, web zip, and use his Spider-Sense. I should
point out a particular annoyance, which was the poor collision
detection that occurred from time to time,leaving Spidey punching and
kicking air when his punches should have been connecting with the bad
guys.

The game sports a comic book appearance, which makes
sense given the media, however, at times the game lacked that certain
‘pop’. This is because game play is restricted to 2 dimensions, in that
Spider-Man can move up, down, right and left.  Unfortunately, after
playing the 3-dimensional PS3 version of the game and then coming to
this one, well we were left a bit ‘flat’; and I totally meant that pun.

As Spider-Man moves through the game he can collect special
Spider Orbs which allow for power-ups and the ability to summon allies
to help fight the invasion, such as Nightcrawler, Moon Knight, and
Storm.  However, their involvement is a brief display of their powers
to help you out of a sticky situation and then poof, Spidey is on his own again.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Like
most games of this nature, Spider-Man is only as good as his latest
special attack move.  Special attack moves call for hitting a
particular sequence of buttons to pull off, so it does call for a bit
of memorization. To purchase special attack moves you have to collect
game points.  To collect game points you attack and defeat the bad
guys.  You also collect game points by completing quests.  Finally, you

can collect game points by talking.  That’s right, talking.  Spider-Man
dons two suits; the red hero suit and the black dark hero suit. This
gave the game designers an idea to let you make red and black choices. 
As Spider-Man interacts with characters throughout the game, he is
given a choice of giving a red suit answer, a neutral answer, or a
black suit answer.  The red suit answer is usually witty and friendly,
while the black suit answer is darker and more menacing. Depending on
your answer, you collect red points or black points.  To purchase
special attacks you have to combined a certain number of game points
with a certain number of red points for a red suit special attack or
black points for a black suit special attack.  From this you can
surmise that at certain times, it’s best to play the good guy, while at
other times, it’s best to play the darker guy.  The result of all of
this is that Spider-Man spends a lot, and I mean a lot of time talking.  This was almost the killing point for both Nik and me.

Overall Impressions

Now
as I said before, unfortunately I reviewed this game after coming off
of the PS3 version, so this game lost the comparison battle before it
had a chance to start.  That said, Nikolai came at this game with a
clean sheet and unfortunately, it failed to capture his interests. It
wasn’t because it was too difficult, it was just that it spent too much
time in conversation mode.  So with that in mind, Nikolai has decided
to give Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for the PSP 48 Thumbs Up out of 100,
stating that playing the game was just okay, however all of the talking
got boring.  As for me, well I’ll have to agree with Nik and say as far
as games of this type go, it was just ‘meh’, so I’m giving 4 Dancing
Elephants out of 8.

Parting Thoughts

One of the
most annoying aspects of this game was the warning it flashed every
time it wanted to auto save the game to the Memory Stick.  The warning
basically said, ‘Warning: This game uses an auto save feature. Please
do not remove the Memory Stick when this is happening, push the circle
to continue.’ And then it would auto save.  What’s the point of using
an auto save feature when it has to stop and ask your permission before
can ‘auto save’ the game?